College basketball upset alert: Why Auburn and Houston need to be careful in Week 13

The upsets keep on coming in this college basketball season, as evidenced by Monday night's overtime affair between No. 3 Iowa State and Arizona. The Wildcats had a tremendous rally to force overtime and dominated the extra session to hand the Cyclones just their third loss this season, a result that will likely give Arizona a fast track to entry in next week's AP Top 25 and furhter cementing their NCAA Tournament resume.

The wave of upsets has been coming all season long, including last week's big Saturday that saw Vanderbilt stun No. 9 Kentucky at home to earn their first entry into the poll in almost a decade (a result we called in this space last week). Which teams need to be on high alert this week to avoid joining Iowa State as a potential upset victim? Read on to find out, starting with a pair of games on Wednesday night.

Which college basketball teams need to be on upset alert in Week 13?

No. 6 Houston

Saturday was a massive day for the Cougars, who asserted their dominance in the rough-and-tumble Big 12 with a double-overtime victory at Allen Fieldhouse over No. 12 Kansas. Beating the Jayhawks at the Phog is never easy, so seeing how well Houston handled that environment raises expectations for Kelvin Sampson's team, which moved up one spot in the poll after improving to 8-0 in league play.

Another tough road trip awaits the Cougars as they travel East on Wednesday night to take on West Virginia in Morgantown. While Houston is unquestionably a better basketball team than West Virginia, the amount of emotional energy they had to expend to beat the Jayhawks may leave the Cougars in a classic letdown spot for another road game.

The Mountaineers are no slouches either, having already earned a road win of their own at Kansas while picking up strong victories over the likes of Gonzaga and Iowa State. If there is any sort of Kansas hangover from the Cougars West Virginia will be ready to pounce and snag another big win for their NCAA Tournament resume.

No. 18 Wisconsin

While Michigan State, Illinois, Oregon and Purdue have stated their cases as the Big Ten's top teams, Wisconsin finds itself in a confusing tier below them. The Badgers are sitting in fourth place in the Big Ten with a 6-3 record in conference games, but they have yet to demonstrate that they belong in the elite tier of the league.

The biggest win on Wisconsin's resume is a non-conference tilt against Arizona in November, and their top victories other than that are wins against bubbly teams like Pitt, Ohio State and Nebraska. The best true road win that the Badgers have earned this season came against USC in mid-January and they immediately followed it up by losing their next road tilt against a better UCLA team, which doesn't set them up well for Wednesday night's trip to Maryland.

The Terrapins are red hot right now, entering the week on a three-game winning streak that includes an impressive demolition of Illinois on the road by 21 points and a dramatic win at Indiana over the weekend. A few bad losses to Washington and Northwestern are keeping Maryland close to the cut line but they have shown themselves more capable of competing with the Big Ten's best than Wisconsin, which should give them a considerable edge at home in this one.

No. 1 Auburn

We'll round out this week's upset alert column with another look at No. 1 Auburn, which has won its last two games by a combined four points. While no one is questioning the Tigers' ability to be a dominant team in March, being the top team in the AP Top 25 paints a huge target on Auburn's back, making it much harder for them to survive an off night when other teams are determined to put their best foot forward against them.

Being a No. 1 team in this season's SEC also makes life more difficult, a fact that Tennessee learned the hard way over the past few weeks, and Auburn is on the road twice this week. While Wednesday night's trip to LSU is something that Bruce Pearl's team should easily handle, Saturday's visit to Oxford to take on No. 23 Ole Miss will be a very tough test.

The Rebels are a tier below the SEC's top teams but have shown the ability to beat them, as evidenced by a 10-point road win at Alabama that preceded their current three-game skid. With a frenetic crowd backing them on Saturday, Ole Miss is up to the challenge of upsetting the nation's No. 1 team if Auburn doesn't bring their A-game.